Improvement in school-desks



J. B. SHERW'OOD.

.School-Desk.

No. 213,593. Patented Mar. 25, 1879.

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NPEIERS. FHOTO-LJTHDGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D c.

UNITED STAT-ES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. SHERWOOD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SCHOOL-DESKS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 213,593, dated March 25, 1879; application iilcd January 21, 1879.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. SHERWOOD, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in School-Desks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating the improvement.

The present invention relates to certain devices for holding the leaf of the desk in position for use, and raising it in a vert-ical position above the desk or letting it fall against the ends of the seat, and in anovelmanner of doweling the seat-back to the standards or seat-ends.

The nature of invent-ion, in brief, consists in weighted arms or braces, (two to each seat,) jointed to the folding' leaf at their upper ends, and their lower ends being provided with outwardly -projecting stops, operating in elongated triangular grooves which are formed in metal plates attached to the insides of the seat-ends, whereby the leaf may have the necessary position herein shown by simply manipnlating the leaf.

1n the drawings, Figure l is a central vertical section of my improvement in schooldesks, showing also an elevation of the weighted arms and the grooved plate in which one arm operates. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the desk as shown at Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of Fig. 2, taken half-size. Fig. 4 is a top or plan view of one of the weighted arms removed from the other parts.

A A represent the ends ot' the...desk, which have the ordinary construction of school-desks now in use. B represents the seat g C, the stationary part of the top of the desk, and D is the leaf.

The seat-back is shown at E, which is made in sections, and each section is held to the ends A A by means of inclined dowels F, (shown by dotted lines,) except the top section, which is fastened by dowels and screws G, so that the tightening of the screws will, by the aid of the dowels, hold all the sections firmly in place.

rEhe leaf D is hung to thepart O by :meansw of the ordinary well-known pivot-hinges used in this art to hang desk-leaves to have a movement of half of a circle or more.

To the under side of the leaf D are pivoted two weighted arms, K, the lower ends ot' which are provided with stops L, Fig. 4, to operate in the grooves c b c, formed in plates cl d, which are fastened to the insides of the ends A A of the desk. The grooves a b c extend through the plates d d, and their margins adjoining the ends A A are rabbeted, to permit buttons e on the ends of the stops L to run in said rabbets, and hold the arms in place properly to operate in the grooves a b c.

Gare should be taken to form thegrooves as shown in Fig. 1, and to weight the arms K at K', so that in placing the leaf D in the three several positions the stops L will, as shown, bear in notches f in the plate d when the leaf is in position as shown at D, and when the leaf is elevated the stops catch in the upper angle of the groove, so that when the leaf is let down thc stops L pass down the long groove a.

I do not claim to be the inventor of giving to the leaf D the positions described; but I am not aware th at weighted arms and grooved plates d have been before used in a like manner.

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The arms K K, pivoted to the leaf D and weighted at K', in combination with the plates d, having continuous triangular grooves, in which the stops ou the arms traveland are locked, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The sections of the seat-back doweled to the ends A by inclined dowels, and the upper section secured by an additional screw, as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN -Br SHERWOOD.

Witnesses:

A. G. MoREY, G. L. CHAPIN. 

